Dear Union Representatives,

This is yet another update on our progress resolving the technical issue with the WebMD individual action plan activity tracker and report on our efforts to provide your members with the information and support they need to complete their WebMD individual action plans.

Progress resolving technical issues

WebMD has presented a solution to the technical problem that could have the activity tracker back up and working with some modifications as early as February 10. The important points are:

1. Participants will get credit for activity they have already recorded.
2. The activity tracker will once again be available for participants to track their progress toward making the 50 planner entries required for gold.
3. People will get credit for healthy activity they have done instead of just clicking on a page.

You may recall from earlier e-mails that the activity tracker was giving credit for clicks on the page instead of entries specifically indicating an activity had been completed. So, some people were amassing credit toward gold just for navigating through the pages and were quickly compiling planner entries toward the goal of 50.

The solution offered by WebMD will give people credit for clicking the box next to an activity they have completed or a food they have eaten. This is consistent with the original intent of the program which is to reward people for healthy activity. So, participants will get credit for one entry if they click next to an exercise they did that day. They will get two credits if they click next to two exercises they did that day. This formula will be applied retroactively to give participants credit for entries they have made since the program launched January 1, 2010.

As soon as the technical fix has been implemented and tested, the activity tracker tab will go back up on the web so members can once again track the planner entries they make as they work toward the goal of 50.

The phased readings continue to work as initially planned. To complete an individual action plan, in addition to the 50 planner entries, participants must complete 10 phases of readings. Each phase has 7 steps. Each phase is like a chapter and each step is like a page within the chapter. There is a quiz at the end of each phase, or chapter to help people remember what they read. The readings are "gated" so people can only complete one a week.

As I mentioned before, the individual action plans have been functioning properly during this time and participants have continued to use them.

We will wrap communication of the availability of the activity tracker and what counts as an entry into the outreach and communication efforts currently going on. Fortunately, it is not very different from what we have already been communicating and will fit nicely into this phase of our outreach where we are talking about how to set up a planner and what's needed to achieve gold.

Outreach

We continue our efforts to support employees through this change by giving them information and personal help.

• As expected, we saw a big jump in the number of people who have completed the wellness assessment.
• 54 percent of employees have completed vs. 34 percent last week
• 50 percent of spouses and domestic partners have completed vs. 28 percent last week.
• 34 percent of participants have completed at least one phase of an individual action plan.

This week:

1. A global has gone out announcing the deadline for taking the wellness assessment has been moved to Friday, February 26 at 4 p.m.
2. Many employees are accessing the help guides and other information available on the web.
   1. The Healthy Incentives page has been visited more than 7,000 times since the beginning of January.
   2. The Health Matters article about how to earn gold was read 2,659 times.
   3. The help guides have been downloaded 500 times.
3. We did our first onsite help day at the RJC Jail.
   1. 32 people stopped by with questions like: What do I need to do to earn gold? What counts as a planner entry? How to I set up my planner? How do I get my Healthy Incentives ID?
   2. People came in frustrated and with the exception of two, left satisfied with a good understanding of how to navigate through the website and how to complete their individual action plan.
   3. Many of the people who came by planned to go back to their workgroup and share information.
4. Other help days are in the process of being scheduled at:
   1. The downtown jail (Tuesday)
   2. The bus bases
   3. Facilities
   4. Treatment Plants
   5. The landfill declined a help day
5. Webinars are in the process of being scheduled and will be announced early next week.
   1. In addition to announcing these globally, we will do direct outreach to worksites encouraging them to hook up projectors and laptops for groups.
6. We are developing short videos on how to set up a planner that will be posted to the web next week. The videos are like the TurboTax training you may have seen that show a mouse icon clicking through a site. Dialogue boxes narrate the video.

Please let me know if you have additional questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Jim Johnson, Interim Labor Relations Manager

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The following email is sent on behalf of Jim Johnson.

Dear Labor Unions

I wanted to let you know that last Thursday the e-mail below announcing Webinars was sent globally to all county employees. Already 210 employees have registered and Health Reform Program staff are doing direct outreach to worksites to encourage them to sign up. These are open to spouses and domestic partners, as well. If you have members you think would benefit from this resource, please feel free to forward this to them. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or comments regarding this email.

Sincerely,
Jim Johnson, Interim Labor Relations Manager

Dear King County Employee:

The County has set up 16 Webinars over the next five weeks to take you step-by-step through the four online WebMD Lifestyle Improvement Programs: Exercise, Nutrition, Weight Management and Stress Management.

The Webinars will walk you through how to choose and complete an individual action plan. All you have to do is register and watch as an individual or as a group. The Webinars are also open to spouses and domestic partners covered by the county's benefits, so please forward the information home.

At the Webinar, you will see live on the screen:

• How to navigate through the WebMD Web site
• How to choose an individual action plan
• How to set up a planner
• How to make entries in a planner
• How to complete a phase of readings

Webinars will be held February 4 - March 11 at the following times:

• Tuesdays, noon - 1 p.m.
• Wednesdays, 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
• Thursdays, 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Space is limited, so please register soon. To register, click here and:

1. Look under the Weekly or Monthly tab to find a meeting that works for you
2. Click the Register link, located to the right of the meeting you have chosen
3. Fill in the requested information, particularly your First name, Last name, Email address and Company (department) name
4. Submit your registration by clicking on Register Now.

After you provide the requested information, you'll receive an automatic e-mail that will provide you with a call-in number and instructions for logging in to the Webinar. Plus, you'll receive a reminder e-mail 15 minutes before the Webinar is scheduled to begin.

Two additional Webinars are being held to accommodate larger groups of up to 500 people:

• Tuesday, February 9, 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.
• Thursday, February 18, noon - 1 p.m.

To register for one of these Webinars, click here and follow the same steps as above. After you've filled in the requested information, click on Submit to complete your registration.

Can't attend a Webinar?

If you can't attend a Webinar, then visit the County's Healthy Incentives^SM Web site to find additional information on how to complete your individual action plan, including what you have to do to earn gold in each individual action plan, how to set up a WebMD planner, and how to record the activity you are doing to earn credit toward gold.

If you need additional help with the county's Live Well Challenge, Weight Watchers at Work^® or the Quit for Life^® smoking cessation program, contact Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations at 206-684-1556 or kc.benefits@kingcounty.gov.

If you need additional help with one of the four Lifestyle Improvement Programs-Exercise, Nutrition, Weight Management and Stress Management-call WebMD Customer Service at 1-866-584-6813 (if you're using a county phone, precede this number with a "9").

If you need additional help with the county's Live Well Challenge, Weight Watchers at Work(R) or the Quit for Life(R) smoking cessation program, contact Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations at 206-684-1556 or kc.benefits@kingcounty.gov.

As a reminder, you and your covered spouse/domestic partner will both need to take your own wellness assessment by 4 p.m., Friday, Feb. 26, 2010, and complete your own individual action plan by June 30, 2010, to earn the gold out-of-pocket expense level for your family medical benefits in 2011. If you miss the Feb. 26 deadline, you can still take the wellness assessment before June 30 to earn silver.

If you have questions about the Healthy Incentives^SM program, contact Benefits, Payroll and Retirement Operations at 206-684-1556 or kc.benefits@kingcounty.gov